Big Brother Season 13 Premieres, First Contestant Cut

Big Brother is back with its 13th season with a three-hour premiere on CBS on Thursday. This season, the show has introduced new twists to the rules, according to which three past pairs returned to join the eight newbies in the house. So the houseguest pairings are: Keith Henderson and Porsche Briggs, Shelly Moore and Cassi Colvin, Adam Poch and Dominic Briones, Lawon Exum and Kailia Brooker – who make up the “newbies” group – and Brendon Villegas and Rachel Reilly, Jeff Schroder and Jordan Lloyd, and Evel Dick and Daniele Donato, who are the BB veterans.

If a house guest wins Head of Household, their partner will enjoy total immunity from nomination and eviction for the week. The HoH winner nominates one pair to face eviction, and those two individuals campaign against each other for votes to stay on. In another twist, the house guest who doesn't get evicted for the first four weeks gets a Golden Key” that automatically exempts them from challenges, nominations and evictions until the top 10.

Reilly won the first HoH after all the house guests hung onto a giant banana while being sprayed with chocolate and whipped cream. Reilly nominated Henderson and Briggs for eviction in the first week. The Power of Veto competition will be held this weekend and the first live eviction will happen next Thursday.

But even before any evictions could take place, the show is one contestant down. Donato went missing from the live feeds from the moment they were turned on, causing much speculation among the other house guests. After Big Brother: After Dark ended, Donato’s daughter and partner on the show Daniele was called into the diary room and the feeds again cut off for three hours. When they resumed, it was revealed that Evel Dick was out of the game and had left the house, while Daniele had been given a Golden Key. It's unclear why he left, but Daniele was assured it wasn't related to her immediate family.

Big Brother will be screened thrice a week: Sundays at 8 p.m. (ET/PT), Wednesdays at 8 p.m. (ET/PT), and Thursdays at 9 p.m (live ET/delayed PT) on CBS.